Review – “10 Weeks” Art, Design & Media Exhibition

Tonight, Thursday 19th June I headed over to 3irty2wo the New Art Gallery on The High Street, Church Square in the centre of Scunthorpe (a terribly short walk for me) to check out the opening night of the “10 Weeks” exhibition – displaying the work of the graduating students of the Foundation Diploma in Art, Design & Media at John Leggott College.

Its hard to quantify what the benefit of having an art gallery a minute from your house is, as opposed to say, a supermarket or a bus station. Maybe its inspirational, maybe its educational, perhaps it gets your mental processes going a bit quicker, maybe seeing beautiful things helps you think beautiful thoughts, or maybe its just good to chill out and look at cool stuff. But whatever the benefits are of having one art gallery half a moment away they’re doubled when you’ve got two. Just across the square from the established Art-space 20-21 you will find the freshly opened 3irty2wo Gallery between a car showroom and the council offices. Its a good space for a display of artistry, three storeys worth. It twists and turns, up one step, down another, there is good light here and there are little hidden corners there, and everywhere you look you’ll find a diversity of things to look at. There are five disciplines within the Foundation Diploma, they are Fine Art; Graphic Design; Photography; Textiles and 3D Design and you will find the final year student’s best examples of each as you wander around.

I found myself impressed, more than impressed really, I just can’t understand how people so young can be so good at stuff already. What level they’re going to be at when they’ve come through university who knows. Its really encouraging, young folks get such a tough go these days, but here you’ll find tangible examples of their dedication and talent. I’m not going to pick out any particular piece as my favourite because its not fair. I’ll just cop out and say it was all good haha, but that’s true. Plus how do you possibly compare evocative photography to intricate needlework, or a piece of intriguing sculpture to a piece of well considered design. Each Student has their Name, Discipline and what they are doing next whether it be employment or heading off to Uni on a plaque besides their work. Read them, it’ll make you proud.

I’ve tried to take a few photos to give you an idea but without showing you too much, you know, just to tantalise, to make you want to have a look-see.The exhibition is openDaily 20th – 22nd June, Fri – Sun 10am – 6pm,Its not on for long so don’t miss out!Check it out. If you’re heading to 20-21 anyway why not drop in to both venues in Scunny’s little Arts Quarter. Hmm, “Arts Quarter”, I like that, I think I’m going to start telling people I live by the Arts Quarter.